(Untitled)

[playingtheenemy]

If you asked Ainsley if she expected this to be the general way her life went, she wouldn't have thought that she would up here in a clinic in the woods of a strange Island with a baby resting nearby, Josh still feeling freshly disappeared, and feeling weaker than she ever had before. She knew that the old adage ought to be true. Whatever didn't

Comments

[abbysciuto]

Abby had brought food, specifically blueberry cobbler. When there was a major family realignment event of any kind, the required thing was to bring food, even if the family already had food. Plus, Ainsley had just given birth and that took a lot of calories, so she needed cobbler to help her get her strength back.

She held the covered cobbler pan in one hand and gently knocked on the doorframe so she wouldn't interrupt the cute little family tableau currently occurring, but still would let Ainsley know someone was here.

[abbysciuto]

"Well, isn't that a mom's job? To follow the kid around till he says 'Moooooooom' in that super-exasperated voice?" she asked, since it really was a mom's job and a kid's job both. The words might change, but the sentiment never did.

"Josie will not work. I'm all for not forcing kids into gender roles, but Josie will not work. How about Joe?"

[playingtheenemy]

"Well, I am a well-meaning Republican. Following him around until he's so annoyed with me that he has no reason but to exclaim with terrible frustration is like second nature. It'll be just like breathing!" she said agreeably. "And Joe...I like that. Shadow says no Jeb. But, Jed...well, I probably wouldn't feel right with that, not seeing as his namesake used Jed."

[abbysciuto]

"Wouldn't that be more like a Democrat, with their insistence on federal government being involved in everything?" she asked curiously. She was an independent, pretty much, which meant she felt free to make fun of both parties indiscriminately.

"Joe's a good solid name. Not Joey, though."

[playingtheenemy]

"Yes," Ainsley agreed but she was grinning with a sly little smirk. "But if you ask the Democrats I knew, I was somehow the annoying one because I could go toe-to-toe with them in a debate and not lose spectacularly. Imagine that," she teased, tilting her head to the side. "Not Joey, no," she agreed. "Joe," she tried it out.

[abbysciuto]

"I've never understood that sentiment. What is the point of a debate if you're not actually exchanging views? It's not always about winning or losing as much as sharing a viewpoint, possibly heatedly and with profanity, but hopefully not," Abby shrugged.

"Joe. Good solid name. Easy to call when he's wandering off to chase the dog or something, too."

[playingtheenemy]

"Politics was very often senseless," Ainsley admitted, even though the spirit of politics was what she loved and breathed. It didn't mean that sometimes it didn't frustrate her to the very core, though. She finished with the cobbler (after making an effort to not just inhale it) and leaned over to lightly brush at Josiah's nose. "That or toddling after Karen with whatever new scheme she's hatched." And oh, Ainsley worried for the schemes.

[abbysciuto]

"She seems to hatch a lot of those. I haven't talked to her much, but she has definite ideas about what should and should not be done at any given time, doesn't she? Even more than a kid usually does at that age, I mean," she amended, since all kids were firmly convinced of both the rightness of their ideas and the urgency of implementing them.

Witness the board and the glue and her brother, for instance.

[playingtheenemy]

"I think that it's got something to do with the Island's encouragement. I mean, she doesn't want for much." Which is how Ainsley wanted a child to grow up and would love to give to both Karen and Josiah. "I just hope that she understands that we still love her just as much, even though there's a new little one in the family."

[abbysciuto]

"Oh, she will," Abby assured Ainsley. "I went through suddenly acquiring a little brother, and sure, it's a little annoying not to be the center of attention, but hey, built in playmate and corruptible person, right? It makes up for not being the one and only anymore, or at least it did for me."

[playingtheenemy]

"Provided she doesn't do anything like put him in dresses, I'm happy with however they want to play," Ainsley swore, hand to her heart and claiming this to God. "You're a good expert, actually," she changed the subject. "What's the outside world like right now?" she wondered with great longing.

[abbysciuto]

"Hey, there's nothing wrong with flexible gender roles," she shrugged, but didn't push the issue. She thought they might not be in agreement on this particular point, for one thing.

"Well, it's hot and it's tropical and fictional people keep arriving and departing. But other than that it's not bad. No one's getting turned into a squirrel or anything."

[playingtheenemy]

"So, generally it's exactly like it has been for the four years that I've been here," Ainsley said, at least glad that the dinosaurs hadn't decided to do anything like riot. She really would hate for the whole world to decide to stand on its head just because she went and gave birth. "And if people were getting turned into squirrels, I think that could rank up there with my greatest nightmares."

[abbysciuto]

"Um, yeah, pretty much. There was the whole losing your voice thing a couple weeks ago, but I'm sure you remember that. It was kind of low key for the island, all things considered, not that I'm complaining. I'm glad no one's turning into squirrels. It would probably leave you with a serious obsession with acorns," Abby decided.

[playingtheenemy]

"If I lost my voice, I think I might have gone crazy," Ainsley admitted, because if there was one constant in her world, it was the fact that she talked and she liked to talk. It was one of the few things that she could rely on no matter what was happening to her.

[abbysciuto]

"I might have too, if I hadn't had any other way to communicate," Abby agreed. "You never realize how much you use your voice till you can't. But I can sign, so it's kind of cheating to make me not be able to talk. I'll still be able to communicate, after all."